The big-firm consulting model is under pressure.
Clients are savvier and more selective, growth is harder to come by, and, yes, software is replacing much of the low- and mid-level work that used to keep the large firms’ engines running.
In response, consultancies are shifting. Strategy shops are moving downstream into implementation. Tech consultancies are pushing upstream into advisory. Everyone is converging toward the middle and starting to sound the same.
This is leading to a crisis of differentiation. In part because offerings become even more similar, in part because the knee-jerk response of many players is to lean even harder into “capability-selling”.
But that no longer builds trust or wins business. It pushes firms into a spiral of race-to-the-bottom commoditization, with some clients already asking for AI-driven discounts.
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